5th Weekend PDT - BayWatch

On the Sunday morning of 29 August 2010, some SPY10s met for breakfast at Changi Village before our session began for the day.

PYs take note: Don't miss this wonderful delicacy when you come to Singapore! This Nasi Lemak dish in Changi Village is tip-top and well known! Yummy!

SPY10s then found their way to Changi Sea Sports Centre, where we would be enjoying our whole day of adventure.

The Changi Sea Sports Centre is a bridge away from the food centre of Changi Village. Everyone waited for 4 SPY10s who went to a wrong venue.

While waiting for the LOST ones to navigate their way, let's have a glimpse of all the Hunks and Babes in their beach attire! (Prepare your catcalls and whistling!)

Weiwen: "Peekaboo!"

Oops, Ika got sandwiched by... ahem...

Being a Singaporean male that had undergone basic military training during 2 years of National Service, camouflaging is not that difficult:

Fairuz & Patrick: "You didn't see us!"

Our Sea Sports Instructor is none other than Mohd Salleh (SPY 1994), from PA Water-Venture. Salleh briefed us on the rules of the Outdoor Raft Escape Challenge. Each group would be given a set of equipment (poles, barrels, ropes and oars). The aim is to build a raft that could withstand the sea waves and be able to move fast in water.

SPY10s were grouped into 4 teams. To be fair, the 4 Scouts (Zatan, Janelle Yu Hua, Wei Siang and Si Jie) were separated and staffed into the 4 different teams.

Once we assembled into our teams, we elected our Team Leaders:

Jon: "Why do I always get fingers pointing at me?"

Next, we collected our equipment.

Rheea: "I'm a lady but I can still carry heavy stuff, OK?"

Let's take a look at the fresh faces of SPY10s before they start to build their rafts:

Wei Siang: "No time to waste on Photo Ops!"

Each team was also required to come up with a Team name and a Logo.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle?

And we have the birth of the 4 Wonder Teams: BayWatch, Drifters, Floaters & Jed-Star.

Time was spent planning on how the layout of the raft should be to optimise stability, sturdiness and buoyancy.

Let's get our hands dirty!

Scouts-trained SPY10s started teaching the rest how to tie knots so that everyone could build the raft concurrently.

3 of the rafts had a similar design. The 4th raft (BayWatch) had a raft that resembled the banana boat. Could it be due to the fact that Zatan had only been a boy Scout in his Secondary School days? Or is it the counterintuitive creative minds at work? Well, let's wait and see if the banana boat can survive the tough seas later...

Soon, some teams realised they had a shortage of ropes.

Need more equipment? Pay for it with your talents!

Teams have to perform a 1-minute item for Instructor Salleh in order to receive the additional equipment.

Team Jed-Star: "Ganbatte! Ganbatte!"

Team Floaters: "If you're happy and you know it..."

With additional ropes, teams got back to work...

Dayanaa: "Look! I have arm power...

... and leg power too!" (Poor Sin Yan)

Soon, everyone was done with their rafts:

Let's see the final products from SPY10s:

Team BayWatch (Hunks & Babes Team atop a floating Banana)

The Drifters (Blessed with with an Angel)

The Floaters (Really can Float)

Description of our Logo: Each letter in "FLOATER" represents each of the team member. "S" represents Singapore. We have 5 stars on the float, and a crescent moon in the middle. Fuji Maru is in the middle as well. The Blue waves (identical to those found in our SPY10 Logo) represent SPY 2010 contingent.

Team Jed-Star (Budget Raft)

Presenting to you the SPY10 Flotilla!

Since all the rafts are on exhibition, how could we forget the Exhibition Committee?

Exhibition Committee Unite!

Lunchtime is a great time for resting...

... and taking photos!

Fizah's cute toyish film camera:

"What?!! You mean people still use film?"

Our energiser activity after lunch was a record-breaking feat.

We stood in shoulder-to-shoulder in a circle. After passing a ball around to each and every one of us, we had to remember the sequence with which the ball had been passed, and re-perform the passing sequence.

The challenge was to achieve the entire sequence within the shortest possible timing. Hence, we got into various formations to assist us in achieving the objective.

Ultimately, we took LESS than 5 seconds to pass the ball in the original sequence to each and everyone!!! It might not be a Guinness World Record, but it would certainly qualify for a SSEAYP record!

Before rowing our raft, let's get the ball rolling first!

Gears on and READY for ACTION!

Instructor: "Collect your Oars!"

SPY10s: "Orh...!"

Passing our Oars via the Human Chain:

Never mind if these pretty ladies don't know how to work the oars right:

From Raft Challenge to Gladiator?

Raft Test 1: Can it withstand the transportation from Sports Centre to Changi Beach?

Congratulations to all teams for passing the first test!

Instructor Salleh then led us to perform a test on our safety vest.

Raise up your right hand... and splash some water!

Using hands OK, but no Merlion-style ah....

The energetic faces before the raft challenge:

Row row row your boat...

Gently down the stream...

Merrily Merrily Merrily...

Life is but a dream

Wow! Wei Siang came prepared with Shades

Drifters can really drift:

And the Budget Raft could go real fast:

Floaters literally floated:

And there's really something for people on the bay to watch for BayWatch:

Who says we need to sit atop the raft to paddle it?

Presenting to you the winning team for the race: Team Drifters!

Second in place: An efficient Budget Raft - Jed-Star!

Coming in third and lastingly stable is the Floaters

In fact the raft for Floaters was so sturdy that the whole contingent could sit on top of it and take a group photo!

Some games in the water to celebrate the success for all the teams:

Wei Siang's shades are still peacefully on him!

Angellic DRY ladies cheering us on from the Bay!

The Real BayWatch?

It's good to be wet in such a hot weather:

A debrief session was held to allow us to learn from our activity.

For the Outdoor Raft Escape Challenge, in 4th position: Team BayWatch

Fairuz: "If you let us be Champions, I'll let you watch!"

In second runner-up position: Team Floaters

First runner-up: Team Jed-Star

Overall Champion: Team Drifters

Congratulations to all Teams! All are Winners!

Group photo formal:

Group photo wacky:

Here comes the big wash-up:

Jon: "Hey, why do I smell something weird in the water?"

The Raft Challenge was a great breakaway from our hectic training session!